


the unexplained murders of the blackwood six

by balladee



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series), Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Buzzfeed Unsolved Fusion, Character Death, Crossover, Gen, Post-Canon, literally just a buzzfeed unsolved episode
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-23
Updated: 2020-06-23
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:01:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24881215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/balladee/pseuds/balladee
Summary: SHANE: There could be multiple maniacs decapitating people.RYAN: Right, but then who? Our two main suspects are victims of it.SHANE: Josh could have kidnapped Jessica, right?RYAN: (sigh) I guess so.SHANE: Right?RYAN: Sure.SHANE: Well, who do you think did it?RYAN: I don’t think whatever took Jessica was human at all.SHANE: You’re not going to convince me that ghouls killed these kids. You’re just not.RYAN: (wheeze) Okay.if Buzzfeed Unsolved made an episode about the events at Blackwood Lodge, because that would make for a crazy true crime story.two survivors.
Comments: 15
Kudos: 57





	the unexplained murders of the blackwood six

**Author's Note:**

> sections marked SPOKEN is Shane and Ryan talking at the Table(tm).  
> sections marked NARRATION is Ryan's voice-over, with graphics and pictures.  
> sections marked TEXT is when the blue and yellow text of what's being said appears on the screen.
> 
> none of these characters or plot details are mine. please support the video game Until Dawn and web series Buzzfeed Unsolved.
> 
> enjoy~

SPOKEN:  
RYAN: This week on Buzzfeed Unsolved we discuss the mysterious case of Blackwood Lodge, a skiing property in Alberta, Canada, where a group of eight high school and college-age students spent a weekend in January of 2015. However, only two would survive the night, as in the span of ten hours, six would be killed, never to leave the mountain again.  
SHANE: Holy shit. Six? In one night?  
RYAN: Seven, actually.  
SHANE: Seven?!  
RYAN: We’ll get to it.  
SHANE: And it’s unsolved? A body count of seven, and it’s unsolved?  
RYAN: Right?

NARRATION:  
Blackwood Lodge, a mountain property owned by the Washington family, did not have an innocent history. A year prior to the events of January 2015, on a similar weekend getaway with the Washingtons’ school friends, the Washingtons’ twin daughters, Hannah and Beth Washington, reportedly left the lodge late at night and were never seen again. Subsequent police investigations found no evidence as to the girls’ disappearance, and it was assumed they died of exposure during the blizzard that night.

TEXT:  
SHANE: What-what were they doing? Hm, let me run out into this blizzard. That’ll be fun. Maybe I’ll make some snow angels.  
RYAN: It was late, and reportedly the girls had been drinking.  
SHANE: Oh, drunk snow angels! Even better!  
RYAN: (wheeze) I think if they’d made snow angels the police would have found some evidence of that.  
SHANE: Maybe they were some secret snow angels.  
RYAN: (wheeze) Alright.

SPOKEN:  
RYAN: So already this mountain has a body count.  
SHANE: And this is a year before the main event?  
RYAN: ‘The main event?’ Jesus, Shane.  
SHANE: Well, I’m just saying. It’s a prequel. Why’d they go back?  
RYAN: Apparently Joshua, the son of the Washingtons, wanted to invite everyone back to the lodge for the weekend to be a sort of closure for his sisters.  
SHANE: Nah, man, I wouldn’t be caught dead goin' back to that place.  
RYAN: Even to pay respects? Get closure?  
SHANE: No way, man. Would you?  
RYAN: I think I would. To support my friend.  
SHANE: No. If you died…  
RYAN: Woah there.  
SHANE: If you died on a weekend ski trip, and then our friends were like, Shane, let’s go back to the place Ryan DIED, I’d say no way.  
RYAN: You wouldn’t come to remember me?  
SHANE: Fuck no.  
RYAN: I’m a little hurt.  
SHANE: Live and let live. Die and let die. When Ryan’s murdered, Ryan’s murdered.  
RYAN: ...When...?! ...Murdered?!  
SHANE: I’m just saying.

NARRATION:  
The weekend of January 2nd, Joshua Washington invited a group of friends to hang out and party at Blackwood Lodge, which consisted of Samantha Giddings, Michael Munroe, Jessica Riley, Emily Davis, Matthew Taylor, Ashley Brown, and Christopher Hartley. The group took the ski lift up to the top of the mountain, gathering together at the lodge around 7:00. They would not be heard from again until later that night, when first responders received a broken call for help from Emily Davis around 2:20am. The call was full of static and difficult to decipher, ending abruptly, but not before Davis claimed there was a “maniac” on the mountain and that she and her friends were in danger. When the responder informed her help would arrive by dawn, Emily reportedly responded, saying quote: No, no, that’s too late. We’ll all be dead by then. End quote.

SPOKEN:  
RYAN: Chilling.  
SHANE: Yeah, that’s rough.  
RYAN: I would think-I would think, that if that’s the call for help you received, you’d maybe, y’know, step it up a bit to get reinforcements there sooner.  
SHANE: Did nobody get there until dawn?  
RYAN: No. And when they did get there, well, I’ll explain in a bit.  
SHANE: When they did get there, there were only two people alive.  
RYAN: Right.

NARRATION:  
That call for help would be the last anyone would hear of Emily Davis. Shortly after, the radio tower fell, crashing through power lines and catapulting into parts of an abandoned mine shaft on the property.

TEXT:  
SHANE: The radio tower fell?!  
RYAN: Yeah.  
SHANE: Full on tipped over?!  
RYAN: Yeah.  
SHANE: How old was that thing?  
RYAN: Pretty old, I guess.  
SHANE: Well, that’s not up to standards!  
RYAN: (wheeze) No, I’d imagine not.  
SHANE: Get somebody up in there! Fix that thing! That is not up to code, or, or, regulations!  
RYAN: Yeah, I don’t know how it passed inspection.  
SHANE: It would have failed inspection! I give it zero marks!  
RYAN: What, are you a radio tower safety official?  
SHANE: Is it hard to be one? Who inspected that thing? "Hm, it might full-on tip over someday. Well, it still passes."  
RYAN: Mhm. "Safe enough."  
SHANE: (wheeze) "Safe enough. It’s not like anyone will need to radio for help anytime soon, on this murder mountain where two girls went missing."  
RYAN: (wheeze) "Yeah, it’s probably fine."  
SHANE: "Just don’t worry about it."

NARRATION:  
Matthew Taylor’s body would be found here, in the abandoned mines. It is assumed he was with Emily Davis at the time of the phone call and the fall of the tower. Confusingly, Emily Davis appears to have survived the fall, as her body was found in the lodge, with a single bullet in her head.

SPOKEN:  
SHANE: Oh what?  
RYAN: Like I said, this case is complicated.

NARRATION:  
When first responders arrived at the scene at dawn, they found the lodge ablaze. Investigation revealed the fire to be the cause of a gas leak and a broken lightbulb. The sole survivor of the fire, Michael Munroe, confirmed he had turned on a light switch, only for the room to explode, blowing him out of the lodge into the snow.

SPOKEN:  
SHANE: I thought there were two survivors.  
RYAN: Be patient, gosh.

NARRATION:  
Yet another mystery of the night is the case of Jessica Riley, who was found hours later, wandering the abandoned mines, badly injured, barely conscious, and in shock. First responders only found her due to the testimony of Michael Munroe, who claimed he’d witnessed her be captured and dragged through the woods into the mines before falling down an elevator shaft. Michael had maintained hope that she survived and insisted authorities send out a search.

SPOKEN:  
SHANE: Well, good on him. He was right.  
RYAN: This dude apparently straight-up chased her and her kidnapper down for a mile through the woods at night. Talk about commitment.  
SHANE: Who was dragging her around?  
RYAN: Michael said he never got a good look.  
SHANE: What?! How did he not see?  
RYAN: They were too fast. He was able to follow Jessica solely from her screams for help. When he did catch up to her, whoever, or whatever it was, was gone, and then she fell down the shaft and was separated.  
SHANE: Hold up… ‘whatever?’  
RYAN: We’ll get into the theories.  
SHANE: Oh no. No. Ryan, don’t turn this into an alien thing.  
RYAN: I didn’t say anything about aliens!  
SHANE: But you were thinkin’ it. Leave it to you-leave it to you to turn this horrific event into some-into some paranoia conspiracy with ghosts and ghouls and…  
RYAN: This is slander.  
SHANE: No ghouls. Tell me there’s not a theory about ghouls.  
RYAN: I plead the fifth.

NARRATION:  
With the survivors located, the first responders then uncovered the bodies. We’ve already discussed Emily Davis, found in the basement with a single bullet wound in her forehead. Matt Taylor was found in the mines, and he is believed to have died as a result of the injuries he sustained from the fall. According to Jessica Riley, the two had found each other in the mines and briefly searched for an exit before being separated. 

TEXT:  
SHANE: How’d they get separated?  
RYAN:…  
SHANE: Wh… what? Ryan, what?  
RYAN:…  
SHANE:(unintelligible sputtering) Ryan?  
RYAN: You’re not going to like it.  
SHANE: Oh no.  
RYAN: According to Jessica-  
SHANE: What?!  
RYAN: According to Jessica, they were chased and attacked by large, spindly, skeletal creatures in the mines.  
SHANE:(confused silence)  
RYAN: Oh, he’s speechless.  
SHANE: I’m… I’m not. I just know that you’re going to turn that into some supernatural theory-  
RYAN: That is what Jessica testified, that is what she said she saw-  
SHANE: She’s a teenage girl in shock!  
RYAN: I’m just telling you what she said she saw.  
SHANE: Oh, so now we’re going to accept the testimony of someone who’s in shock as the basis for a theory for what happened-  
RYAN: I don’t think you should blow off what she says so brazenly.  
SHANE: I’m not-I’m not blowing it off! I’m just saying that she was clearly in shock, terrified, lost in creepy, dangerous old mine shafts, and that the mind sometimes invents or perceives things-  
RYAN: Calling her crazy isn’t a good look.  
SHANE: I’m not calling her crazy, I’m just saying people should respect her mental state instead of playing into unhealthy coping mechanisms, because that’s not going to help her.  
RYAN: Well, okay.  
SHANE: I’m not wrong! I’m not a terrible person for saying that.  
RYAN: I just… yeah, okay.

NARRATION:  
The body of Samantha Giddings was found in the main room of the lodge, badly burned as a result of the fire. Autopsy reports, however, maintain that the fire was not the cause of death; it was the huge, tearing wound in her stomach that killed her likely only minutes before the lodge blew. Samantha also maintained a fractured neck as well as a variety of scrapes, burns, and cuts, likely from earlier in the night. Ashley Brown’s decapitated head was found in a basement passageway under the lodge, near a manhole cover that led to another entrance to the mines. 

SPOKEN:  
SHANE: Just her head?!  
RYAN: Just her head.  
SHANE: Where was her body?!  
RYAN: It’s pretty awful.  
SHANE: What?  
RYAN: It gets worse.  
SHANE: Oh no.

NARRATION:  
The decapitated head of Christopher Hartley was found outside the back door of the lodge.

TEXT:  
SHANE: Who’s cutting off these kids’ heads?!  
RYAN: I feel like, of everything, that might have been the best of ways to go?  
SHANE: It’s all awful!  
RYAN: Right, but at least being decapitated would be quick. I mean, I wouldn’t want my organs pulled out like Samantha Giddings.  
SHANE: You know if you cut off a chicken’s head, it’ll still run around? Is that quick, Ryan?  
RYAN: Wh-is that actually true? I feel like I’ve heard it a lot but I don’t think it’s actually true.  
SHANE: Yeah, if you cut its head off, it’ll run around flapping its wings.  
RYAN: No way.  
SHANE: It runs around, like “look at me, I don’t have a head.” Flappin' its wings. Flap flap flap.  
RYAN: (wheeze) Flap flap flap.

NARRATION:  
The bodies of Ashley Brown and Christopher Hartley would be found later, deep in the mines, where they’d been strung up on hooks, as if on display.

SHANE: Holy shit.  
RYAN: Yeah.  
SHANE: Holy shit.

NARRATION:  
Joshua Washington’s body would also be found here, having been killed as a result of an exploded skull, his head completely unrecognizable, but otherwise suffering no injuries save a shallow stab wound in his shoulder.

TEXT:  
SHANE: Exploded skull.  
RYAN: It appeared like a great deal of force had been applied to his skull until it literally burst open.  
SHANE: That’s… messy.  
RYAN: Brain matter everywhere. Yeah.

SPOKEN:  
SHANE: Okay, so my question is this:  
RYAN: Yeah.  
SHANE: These three that were found strung up in the cave. Were they killed here, or moved?  
RYAN: Moved.  
SHANE: We know that for sure?  
RYAN: Yes. The blood from their respective deaths were found beside Ashley and Christopher’s heads. The bodies were moved after the fact; the heads are where they were killed. Josh seems to have been killed a little ways away in the mines and then dragged to the other location, if you follow the bloodstains and brain matter.  
SHANE: Hate that. Brain matter.  
RYAN: Why, are you squeamish?  
SHANE: I don’t know, it’s just. Slurp.  
RYAN: What?  
SHANE: You know, the brain matter, you gotta, you gotta, slurp.  
RYAN: Oh my god.  
SHANE: Get back those brain cells.

NARRATION:  
Most confusingly, a seventh body was found near the equipment shed behind the lodge. Later identified to be Jack Fiddler, a released convict, he was found carrying a blowtorch, decapitated. According to the Washingtons, he’d been a suspect in the disappearance of their daughters a year before, but with no evidence of any wrongdoing, they’d been forced to drop the charges. 

SPOKEN:  
SHANE: Oh, so we’ve found our “maniac”.  
RYAN: It would appear so, yes.  
SHANE: … But?  
RYAN: But, his time of death was approximated to be before literally everyone else. Christopher Hartley, Ashley Brown, Samantha Giddings, Josh Washington and Matt Taylor all died after him.  
SHANE: How accurate is that?  
RYAN:(sputters) Uh, pretty accurate?  
SHANE: Are we sure?  
RYAN: He died before, or at least within the same hour, as them. We know that. There’s no way he could have killed them and then moved their bodies within that time frame.  
SHANE: Could he have been working with someone else?  
RYAN: Maybe, but there’s no evidence of anyone else on the mountain.  
SHANE: Could he have been the one to kill the other girl?  
RYAN: It’s possible he could have killed Emily Davis, yes. His fingerprints were on the gun-  
SHANE: Gun? We have the gun?!  
RYAN: Michael Munroe’s fingerprints were also on the gun, though, so he could also be a suspect for Emily’s death.  
SHANE: Hm.  
RYAN: It’s real messy.  
SHANE: Yeah, I’m starting to gather that.

NARRATION:  
Now that we’ve discussed the recovered bodies and the events of the night, let’s get into the theories.

Theory One is that Jack Fiddler is in fact the maniac Emily Davis called for help about. He is the person who captured Jessica Riley and dragged her into the mines, likely planning to string her up in the cave, although Michael Munroe’s pursuit must have thrown off his plan. He is responsible for the deaths of all the kids, as well as the movement of Ashley, Christopher, and Joshua’s bodies to the cave. Evidence for this is that his fingerprints were found on a gun that could have been used to kill Emily Davis. His blowtorch could be responsible for the slight burns found on Emily Davis and Christopher Hartley. The radio tower falling could also be attributed to him, as the tower fell as a result of the severance of a certain critical cable, which could be the result of foul play. He was also a suspect in the twins’ disappearance, and had beef with the Washingtons as a result of disputes over ownership of the land. Investigators found evidence that he had been living in the abandoned mines and sanatorium on the property for years prior to the incidents.

SPOKEN:  
SHANE: Oh, well, there’s a motive.  
RYAN: Yeah, this theory is bullshit.  
SHANE: Woah. Coming off strong there.

NARRATION:  
Evidence against this theory is that his death is believed to come before the majority of the kids’. Also, if he’s the only murderer, then who killed him?

SPOKEN:  
SHANE: Well, he could be working with someone?  
RYAN: Hm.  
SHANE: Like, had a fallout… turned on each other…  
RYAN: There was no evidence of anyone else on the mountain, though.  
SHANE: Somebody could just be real sneaky.  
RYAN: I find it hard to believe, due to the chaos of the night, that somebody could have been able to cover their tracks and dispose of any evidence that they were there.  
SHANE: Well, no, I’d argue with you-I’d say that BECAUSE of the chaos, the evidence of another person would be easily lost.  
RYAN: I don’t know. I kinda doubt that.  
SHANE: Why, what do you think happened?  
RYAN:(looks into the camera)  
SHANE: He thinks it’s ghouls. Of course he does. 

NARRATION:  
Further evidence shows that while Jack Fiddler was fit, he was still an older man with a slight limp. There is no way he had the strength or stamina to drag three bodies through abandoned mineshafts, let alone kidnap Jessica Riley and outrun Michael Munroe through a mile of uneven terrain in the dark woods with no flashlight. Statements from Michael Munroe display that Michael himself does not believe Jack Fiddler to be the kidnapper, and his early reports apparently even claim Fiddler to have been helping the kids.

SPOKEN:  
SHANE: Maybe Michael was just a really, really slow runner.  
RYAN: He’s an athlete, and he had a lantern while pursuing them. Who or whatever took Jessica did not have any light. And Jessica’s no slouch either; she wasn’t restrained or knocked out. Between her fighting back, no light, and being chased, there’s no way this man could be responsible for dragging her through, let me repeat, a mile of woods at night.  
SHANE: Back at it again with the “whatever took her”.  
RYAN: Yeah, we’ll see.  
SHANE: You’re not going to convince me that ghouls killed these kids. You’re just not.  
RYAN: Okay.

NARRATION:  
The second theory is that Joshua Washington had been playing some sort of prank on the rest that quickly fell out of hand, and that he was the maniac Emily Davis called about.

SPOKEN:  
SHANE: Woah, woah, woah, what?  
RYAN: Just wait.

NARRATION:  
Evidence for this theory is abundant. For one, Joshua Washinton allegedly harbored some resentment towards the others as a result of the deaths of his sisters. According to a testimony of Samantha Giddings a year prior, the girls had fled from the lodge after the others played some sort of mean prank on them. Joshua and Christopher were asleep at the time. Samantha tried to convince the others to drop the prank, but couldn’t. 

SPOKEN:  
SHANE: Oh, so he blamed them for his sisters’ deaths.  
RYAN: A statement from his psychiatrist supports this theory.  
SHANE: Oh shit.

NARRATION:  
Joshua was in the process of being diagnosed with schizophrenia, and had been placed on several medications for anxiety and depression. Medications which, according to his parents, he didn’t seem to be taking, as they would allegedly find thrown away or in the toilet. Joshua was also an aspiring film student, known for an interest in horror, particularly in special effects and fake gore. Although the lodge was burned down, investigators found evidence of mazes, video players, and trick lighting set up in the basement. In the shed behind the lodge is perhaps the most grisly scene: a lever controlling a saw that had followed a track to bury itself in a strikingly realistic fake body dressed in Joshua’s clothes, complete with gore and an abundance of fake blood. Beside the lever were pictures of Joshua and Ashley. A tape recording played a very menacing audio that told Christopher to choose one of them to die.

TEXT:  
RYAN: So basically, he rigged this thing to look like a maniac was forcing Christopher to choose between killing Joshua or killing Ashley. The saw was rigged to go towards “Joshua”, so it looked like he had actually died.  
SHANE: What the fuck.  
RYAN: And Ashley and Christopher’s bodies were found covered in fake blood. Fake blood that matches this scene.  
SHANE: Wait a minute, their bodies were covered in fake blood?  
RYAN: Yeah. So this theory explains that.  
SHANE: I mean, there was real blood on the bodies, too…?  
RYAN: Yes, Shane, there was real blood, too.

NARRATION:  
Also found in the remains of the lodge was evidence of chloroform, which Joshua would have used to knock out his friends, a gun filled with blanks, a creepy clown mask, as well as various restraints. There was also a video player and various recordings throughout the basement, though whatever they played did not survive the fire.

SPOKEN:  
SHANE: Okay, so this dude wanted to fuck with his friends in the most screwed up way possible.  
RYAN: Yeah.  
SHANE: But there was ALSO a random criminal hanging out on the mountain, this Fiddler guy.  
RYAN: Right.  
SHANE: So…  
RYAN: What this theory says is that Joshua was planning all this messed up stuff to fuck around with the people he thought were responsible for his sisters’ deaths, but then when Jack Fiddler showed up, things began to fall out of hand. All hell broke loose, basically. This could explain why Emily Davis was shot, you know, amidst all the confusion, especially if there was a second gun that only had blanks.  
SHANE: But who decapitated them?  
RYAN:(sigh) This theory just kind of claims that everybody went crazy. So maybe Fiddler, maybe Joshua… I don’t know, man.

NARRATION:  
Evidence against this theory is that Christopher, the target of the saw ‘prank’, was not even involved in the prank on the twins, so why would Joshua target him? 

TEXT:  
SHANE: I mean, he is mentally ill.  
RYAN: Right, but it’s weird. 

NARRATION:  
Also, Joshua is likely not responsible for the decapitation of Ashley, Chris, Fiddler, and himself.

SPOKEN:  
SHANE: It could be multiple people who were doing the decapitation.  
RYAN: Right, but then who? Our two main suspects are victims of it.  
SHANE: Joshua could have kidnapped Jessica, right?  
RYAN: (sigh) I guess so.  
SHANE: Right?  
RYAN: Sure.  
SHANE: Well, who do you think did it?  
RYAN: I don’t think whatever took Jessica was human at all.  
SHANE: Oh, okay. Of course you don’t.

NARRATION:  
The third theory is bad.

TEXT:  
SHANE:(wheeze) That was fast!  
RYAN: It’s just bad.  
SHANE: Nothing else to say?

NARRATION:  
The third theory is aliens.

TEXT:  
SHANE:(wheeze) Ooh, of course you don’t believe the alien theory, but you believe, what, some other monster theory?  
RYAN: It’s not aliens. Why would it be aliens?  
SHANE: Well, get into it!

NARRATION:  
Evidence for this theory is nothing. Evidence against this theory is everything.

TEXT:  
SHANE: (wheeze)  
RYAN: Yeah.

NARRATION:  
The fourth theory is that something else was awakened on the mountain, and that whatever killed Ashley, Chris, Fiddler, and Josh, and kidnapped Jessica is not human at all.

TEXT:  
SHANE: Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.  
RYAN: Hear me out.  
SHANE: UGHhshhgh (gurgling noises of complaint)

NARRATION:  
Believed to be responsible is a creature known as a wendigo.

SPOKEN:  
SHANE: Nope.  
RYAN: Wh…  
SHANE: Nope. I’m out.  
RYAN: You haven’t even heard what I’m about to say!  
SHANE: I’ve seen "Supernatural." I get it.  
RYAN: You’ve heard of a wendigo?  
SHANE: Get out of here.

NARRATION:  
The wendigo is a creature of Native American legend, believed to be created when a person resorts to cannibalism. Marked by emaciated, skeletal forms and superhuman strength, the wendigo kills its victims and feasts on their flesh, usually dragging the body back to its lair to rot and fester. Evidence supporting this theory-

SPOKEN:  
SHANE: There is none.  
RYAN: There is, actually.  
SHANE: There’s not, because they’re not real.

NARRATION:  
Evidence supporting this theory is the method in which Ashley, Chris, Fiddler, and Joshua were killed and then transported to the cave where they were found strung up in a way that matches the legends. Also supporting this is the way these bodies were decapitated: the wounds are much too brutal to be the result of a blade. It’s as if the heads were literally torn off, or in Joshua’s case, crushed as a result of incredible strength.

TEXT:  
SHANE: Could you please entertain the fact that these people were killed in this way because the murderer wanted to copycat the legend?  
RYAN: What?  
SHANE: Like, it’s perfectly possible for a human person to messily hack off heads and string up bodies. The murderer just has style.  
RYAN:(wheeze) Style?  
SHANE: Well, yeah, he’s got a special little thing. He wants to evoke the legends, for whatever reason. To freak people out.  
RYAN: I would entertain your theory except for-  
SHANE: Except you love a ghouly story.  
RYAN: Except for the fact that no person could have dragged Jessica through the woods like that.

NARRATION:  
Further evidence supporting this theory is that a multitude of small altars and wendigo-figures and drawings were found scattered within the mines.

SPOKEN:  
SHANE: That’s not evidence for you, that’s further evidence for me! That somebody’s deliberately killing people in wendigo-style. Or it’s some weird cult thing.  
RYAN:…  
SHANE: You know I’m right.

NARRATION:  
Further evidence is the death of Samantha Giddings, whose neck was fractured and whose organs were scrambled and pulled out of her body by brute force. And of course, the eyewitness testimony of Jessica Riley.

TEXT:  
SHANE: Eyewitness testimony.  
RYAN: Her descriptions match the legends of the wendigo.  
SHANE: Look, it was dark, she was in shock, you see creepy shadows at night even when you’re in your right mind. 

NARRATION:  
Also supporting this theory is that various flesh samples that did not belong to any of the aforementioned victims were found within the ruins of the lodge.

SPOKEN:  
SHANE: Hold up, what now?  
RYAN: They found traces of unrecognizable DNA in the ruins.  
SHANE: Could this be-now, hear me out-could this be DNA evidence of the actual murderer? Or murderers?  
RYAN: It’s unrecognizable.  
SHANE: So it could be some off-the-charts-weirdo who decided to kill them all, slasher-film style. Who wanted to worship the wendigos with altars, and you know, human sacrifice.  
RYAN: No, I mean it’s unrecognizable as even human.  
SHANE: …  
RYAN: Yeah.  
SHANE: What, like dog… or deer…  
RYAN: It’s unrecognizable.  
SHANE: But it could be those things.  
RYAN: It’s unrecognizable.  
SHANE: Or the tests could be faulty.  
RYAN:(sigh.)

NARRATION:  
Also supporting this theory is the broken testimony of Michael Munroe directly following his rescue. Allegedly, in this tape, which was later lost or covered up following the initial investigation, Michael insisted that Jack Fiddler had actually come to help them. When asked about Ashley and Christopher, Michael claimed that something else was responsible for their deaths, something that was not human. He also indirectly confessed to blowing the lodge and claimed it was his and Samantha’s idea. Whether or not he said all of this is unconfirmed, as the tapes of Michael and Jessica’s initial testimonies have both been lost.

SPOKEN:  
SHANE: But they existed at some point?  
RYAN: Both Michael and Jessica were questioned immediately following their rescue. And these were videotaped. That’s on record. But the tapes themselves are gone.  
SHANE: So there’s some cover-up going on here.  
RYAN: There’s a lot of cover-up going on in here.

NARRATION:  
The statements made directly after the rescue were redacted by authorities during the investigation. Also covered up was the loss of two investigators, who were killed as a result of quote “structural instability” end quote, after descending into the abandoned mines.

SPOKEN:  
SHANE: Why did you put that in quotes?  
RYAN: Because it’s sketchy!  
SHANE: It’s sketchy that an abandoned mineshaft is structurally unsound and could result in the deaths of two investigators?  
RYAN: It’s sketchy that the bodies were recovered but had closed-casket funerals.  
SHANE: How is that sketchy?  
RYAN: Because officially, the reported cause of death is spinal injury from unstable structures! For both of them, the reported death is exactly the same. That’s weird. Also, a spinal injury shouldn’t mess up a body to the point that they can’t show it.  
SHANE: You don’t know that.  
RYAN: I’m just saying, I think there’s more to it. Especially because both Jessica and Michael pleaded with the investigators to not send anyone to that part of the mines.  
SHANE: Ugh.

NARRATION:  
Many elements of this case are confusing and go without satisfactory explanations. Who, or what, kidnapped Jessica Riley that night? Who is responsible for the deaths at Blackwood Lodge? Who shot Emily Davis, and what secrets were lost in the fire? What business did Jack Fiddler have on Blackwood Mountain, and is he in any way tied to the deaths of the Washington twins in 2014? 

SHANE: Yeah, man, this is definitely a weird one.  
RYAN:(laughing) That’s all you have to say?  
SHANE: Well, I mean.  
RYAN: You heard it here, folks, it’s a weird one.  
SHANE: Well, there’s all this evidence that SHOULD point towards something, but nobody knows.  
RYAN: It does point towards something.  
SHANE: Well, YOU think it points towards ghouls-  
RYAN: I think it points to a couple of things-  
SHANE: You think it points towards ghouls, but I’ll tell you what I think-  
RYAN: Tell me what you think.  
SHANE: What I think is this. I think that the murderer, the killer, whatever, got really lucky that there’s a bunch of other confounding events-Joshua’s pranks, and the random Fiddler guy-and all of that has made the case so complicated, that whatever he was doing got covered up and lost.  
RYAN: So, you think there’s some outside person responsible for this?  
SHANE: Yeah, I think whoever killed these people got away with it. Perfectly.  
RYAN: What do you think about the weird police cover-up stuff?  
SHANE: Oh, well, you know, the Washingtons are rich.  
RYAN: (laughing) What?  
SHANE: Anytime there’s rich people involved in a crime there’s corruption.  
RYAN: You think so?  
SHANE: I know so! They get their slimy little money fingers-  
RYAN: What?!  
SHANE: Their slimy little money fingers all over the case! And stuff gets screwed up!  
RYAN: Alright.  
SHANE: I’m not wrong. 

NARRATION:  
Ultimately, the mysteries of what occurred that night at Blackwood Lodge will remain unsolved.

SPOKEN:  
SHANE: So what about these two survivors, though.  
RYAN: What about them?  
SHANE: What do they have to say for themselves? Can we call ‘em up, and ask?  
RYAN: You wanna call up Jessica Riley and ask her what happened on the worst night of her life, be my guest.  
SHANE: I will. I’ll call her. Her and the dude. Post Mortem, let’s go.  
RYAN: Just, just call them, like “hey guys, what’s up?”  
SHANE: What’s poppin’?  
RYAN:(laughing) “What’s poppin’?”  
SHANE: What’s poppin’, guys? My buddy here thinks you were attacked by ghouls, what do you have to say about that?  
RYAN: They’d probably agree with me.  
SHANE: No, they’d say, oh that Ryan guy, yeah he’s nuts.  
RYAN: I think they’d say, hey Shane, stop speaking for us about what happened. Stop calling me crazy.  
SHANE: I’m not calling them crazy.  
RYAN: I’m calling you crazy.  
SHANE: I’m calling YOU crazy!

**Author's Note:**

> I picked Jess and Mike to be the only survivors because that ending would be most confusing for the investigators - Jess knows nothing, and Mike would have some motive to lie so he isn't a suspect in Emily's murder. In this au, I'd say he struck some sort of deal with the police: he keeps quiet about ghouls, and in exchange, the police don't scrutinize his, ah, questionable actions from the night.
> 
> might have gotten some details mixed up but this is just for fun. could you imagine a subreddit about this case? it'd be a nightmare.


End file.
